agreed, and a good read.
that said, i think the broader issue is that what trump/his supporters/this administration is currently doing is not even acknowledging the house's role in the entire checks-and-balances system. everyone wants to compare this to clinton, nixon, johnson, but this has never ever happened before. the stonewalling, the press conferences, the fox news spew - it's all basically saying the entire situation is a sham, and we're not going to play along, and we're basically going to pretend it's not there.
for all the bitching and moaning about things being unfair to the republicans (yawn), the deck is completely stacked against the dems here. they're getting accused of not having fact witnesses, because none of them will testify. anyone who does gets harrassed/intimidated/threatened. the dems are moving slowly and methodically, yet being accused of moving too quickly. if they're moving so quickly, why is trump insisting that it should move quicker?
i admit, it's a pretty genius move to ignore the entire thing, because:
1. the facts aren't on their side
2. congress has shown they're basically powerless against this type of defense
3. most of the public has already made up their mind anyway
4. like the end of wargames, there is no winning. if they do nothing, trump will continue to abuse his office, and fuck with the election. if they continue with this, well, he's still doing shit, rudy is in ukraine, and the senate will acquit anyway.
yesterday, someone on cnn was talking about rudy, and if he's actually being paid, and if so, by who? and if not, is that an illegal contribution? and if not, does he enjoy privilege? the thing is, he'll claim privilege even if he doesn't have it. they'll never show any type of transactions that shows what he's up to, because we can't even get the fucking financials or tax returns from trump. there are holes in our system that trump has been abusing for decades, and now he's abusing them in the oval office. he's appealing the shit out of everything, hoping the supreme court will bail him out, but it'll take months/years to even get that far. and even then, i guarantee you he'll say fuck off.
and speaking of the courts, some people want to wait for the rulings on mcgahn, and bolton, and kupperman, and mulvaney, and who cares. literally, who fucking cares? i mean, i would like to hear what they have to say. but people need to come to the realization that if all of the above actually sit down, testify, and tell the truth, that he will STILL GET FUCKING ACQUITTED IN THE SENATE AND BE ALLOWED TO MEDDLE IN THE FUCKING ELECTION.
sorry, i haven't capitalized a letter in over 3 years, but enough is enough. i'm moving to positano.